hear him

“And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.”
Mark 9:7

Though Mark was not an eyewitness to what he recorded in his Gospel, he nevertheless left us with amazing details that he almost certainly received from Peter (cf 1 Peter 5:13). Mark tells us that the Lord predicted that some of His disciples would see “the kingdom of God come with power” (Mark 9:1). Days later the Lord took Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain where He was suddenly transfigured before them. Mark describes the scene in detail: “His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them” (Mark 9:3). Then appeared Moses and Elijah (Mark 9:4), representing the law and the prophets respectively, twin witnesses to the centrality of Christ in the Scriptures. A powerful voice from heaven marked the conclusion of this remarkable event. “This is my beloved Son,” thundered God the Father, “hear him” (Mark 9:7). Peter wrote of these things in his second epistle. “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables,” he wrote, “when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount” (2 Peter 1:16-18). Peter’s language matches perfectly the Lord’s prediction that certain disciples would see the Kingdom coming in power. We understand that the kingdom is centered on and around the Lord Jesus Himself. When He appeared to them in glory, the astonished disciples saw the kingdom itself manifest in unspeakable power. Let us not forget that a kingdom is a realm in which a king exercises authority and our Lord Jesus is the King of kings (Revelation 19:16). As the One in Whom dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9), He possesses all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). “Hear Him!” was the Father’s command. In all the voices we hear competing for our attention daily there is only one voice that we must hear. “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh.” says the Scripture, “For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth:” (Hebrews 12:25-26a). Rejecting Moses was a serious offense (Acts 7:39). How much more serious it is to reject the voice of the Son of God! Let us remain attentive to the voice of our Good Shepherd, responding with believing hearts and in the full assurance of faith, for His glory and the blessedness of His redeemed.

God bless,

Pastor John